Publications

Laessoe, J., Feinstein, N.R., & Blum, N. (in press). Environmental Education Policy Research – Challenges and ways research might cope with them. Environmental Education Research. Abstract: This essay examines the relationship between research and policy and, more specifically, how researchers might relate to policy work. Given the current international policy focus on climate change, green growth and sustainability in general, it argues for strengthening and widening policy research in the areas of Environmental Education (EE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE). It especially makes a case for two kinds of research on EE policy: (1) a multi-sited approach to empirical documentation and theory development which explores the relationships between international policy agreements and local practice, and (2) an interactive policy-engaged approach to research.

Feinstein, N.R., Laessoe, J., Blum, N., & Chambers, D. (in press). Challenging the premises of international policy reviews: An introduction to the review symposium. Environmental Education Research. Abstract: In 2009, a think-tank called the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) announced the results of a study entitled Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education. Intended for a policy audience, the study offered a glimpse into the status of ESD, and an early look at the emergence of Climate Change Education (CCE), in ten different nations. As with most international reports, the IALEI report provoked many questions, some of which are more broadly relevant to scholarship and practice. This paper introduces a review symposium that addresses three such questions: (1) How coherent is the concept of ESD across national contexts, and what conceptual tensions continue to surround ESD and CCE? (2) Can nation-level analyses tell us anything useful about countries where education is not centrally governed? (3) In light of the evolving relationship between educational research and policy, how should researchers engage with ongoing policy debates?

Feinstein, N.R., Jacobi, P., & Lotz-Sisitka, H. (in press). When does a nation-level analysis make sense? ESD and educational governance in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States. Environmental Education Research. Abstract: International policy analysis tends to simplify the nation state, portraying countries as coherent units that can be described by one statistic or placed into one category. As scholars from Brazil, South Africa, and the United States, we find the nation-centric research perspective particularly challenging. In each of our home countries, the effective influence of the national government on education is quite limited, particularly in fringe and emerging areas of education such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE). This essay explores how nation-level comparisons are and are not useful for international research on ESD and CCE. We consider several layers of decentralized governance, but ultimately come to the conclusion that ESD governance in our respective countries is polycentric rather than decentralized. We discuss the implications of this idea for cross-national policy research on ESD and CCE.

Feinstein, N.R., Allen, S., & Jenkins, E. (2013). Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists. Science. 340(6130), 314-317. Online Publication/AbstractAbstract: Educational policy increasingly emphasizes knowledge and skills for the preprofessional “science pipeline” rather than helping students use science in daily life. We synthesize research on public engagement with science to develop a research-based plan for cultivating competent outsiders: nonscientists who can access and make sense of science relevant to their lives. Schools should help students access and interpret the science they need in response to specific practical problems, judge the credibility of scientific claims based on both evidence and institutional cues, and cultivate deep amateur involvement in science.

Kleinman, D.L., Feinstein, N.R., & Downey, G. (2012). Beyond Commercialization: Science, Higher Education and the Culture of Neoliberalism. Science & Education.
Abstract: Since the 1980s, scholars and others have been engaged in a lively debate about the virtues and dangers of mingling commerce with university science. In this paper, we contend that the commercialization of academic science, and higher education more broadly, are best understood as pieces of a larger story. We use two cases of institutional change at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to shed light on the implications of neo- liberalism for public research universities in the United States. We conclude that instead of neoliberalization being a timely strategy for the specific fiscal and other problems facing public universities today, it has become an omnibus solution available to be employed when any opportunity arises and, in fact, helps to define the ‘‘problems’’ of the university in the first place.

Feinstein, N.R. (2012). Making sense of autism: Progressive engagement with science among parents of young, recently diagnosed autistic children. Public Understanding of Science.
Abstract: This exploratory study examines the significance of science to parents whose children were recently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. It asks: (1) In what manner did science emerge in parents’ concerns and resources as they attempted to understand and advocate for their children? (2) Did some parents engage with science in a qualitatively deeper or more intense manner? Using longitudinal data from interviews and a novel data collection strategy called engagement mapping, it shows that parents asked questions and used resources that were strongly associated with science, but these were vastly outnumbered by “near-science” concerns and resources that mingled meanings from science and daily life. Several parents in the study wove together concerns and resources in an iterative pattern referred to here as progressive engagement with science.Download Publication

Feinstein, N.R., & Carlton, G. (2012). Education for sustainability in the US K-12 educational system. In R. McKeown and V. Nolet (Eds.), Schooling for Sustainable Development in Canada and the United States, (pp. 37-51). New York, USA: Springer.
Abstract: This chapter describes the evolution and current status of Education for Sustainability (EFS) in the K-12 school system of the United States of America (USA). We briefly review the major educational and political movements that set the stage for contemporary EFS in the USA. In particular, we describe how the guiding concept of sustainability vanished and re-emerged from discussions about education in the early years of the twenty-first century. We outline the national and state policy landscape and discuss the unusual role of educational non-profits in shaping policy. Then, drawing on the available research literature and on illustrative examples from educational practice, we discuss the nascent strengths and formidable challenges facing EFS in US public schools. Throughout the chapter, we focus particular attention on contribution of Environmental Education to EFS.Download Publication

Feinstein, N.R. (2011). Salvaging science literacy. Science Education. 95(1), 168-185.
Abstract: There is little evidence that the prevailing strategies of science education have an impact on the use and interpretation of science in daily life. Most science educators and science education researchers nonetheless believe that science education is intrinsically useful for students who do not go on to scientific or technical careers. This essay focuses on the “usefulness” aspect of science literacy, which I contend has largely been reduced to a rhetorical claim. A truly useful version of science literacy must be connected to the real uses of science in daily life—what is sometimes called public engagement with science. A small number of science education researchers have already begun to connect science education and the broader field of public engagement with science. Their work, as well as the work of researchers who study public engagement, suggests that it is possible to salvage the “usefulness” of science literacy by helping students become competent outsiders with respect to science.

Feinstein, N.R., Fielding, K., Udvari-Solner, A., & Joshi, S. (2009). The Supporting Alliance in Child and Adolescent Treatment: Enhancing Collaboration between Therapists, Parents and Teachers. American Journal of Psychotherapy. 63(4), 319-344.
Abstract: Research indicates that the therapeutic alliance between therapist and pediatric patient is most effective in the context of a productive supporting alliance-an alliance encompassing the network of relationships among therapists, parents and teachers. In this essay, we develop a model of the supporting alliance, arguing that the child's primary relationships with various parties (therapists, teachers, and parents) imply a set of secondary relationships among those parties (parent-therapist, therapist-teacher, parent-teacher). We review the literature on these secondary relationships, focusing on their nature and discussing the benefits of and obstacles to establishing productive collaborations in each case. We also describe three sorts of pathology that can afflict the supporting alliance as a whole, and discuss the importance of patient autonomy and therapist-patient confidentiality relative to the supporting alliance. Finally, we identify directions for future research and highlight implications for practice.

Presentations

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2011, April 10). Balancing epistemology and empowerment: Discussion, argument, and dialog across the disciplines, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Feinstein, N.R. (2010, March 21). Equity in Informal Science Learning: Reconciling Research and Practice, Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Philadelphia, PA.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2009). Coming to grips with autism: parents engaging with science, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2009). What parents of autistic children know (and what they discover) about the nature of science, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2009, August 19). Governance and Progress in American Education for Sustainable Development, International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes, International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes, Seoul, Korea.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2007). Autism, meaning and action, Annual Meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science, Society for the Social Studies of Science, Montreal, Canada.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author (2006). Silenced by science? Parents of autistic children finding their voices, Annual Meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science, Society for the Social Studies of Science, Vancouver, Canada.

Feinstein, N.R., Discussant Redefining school science to promote public engagement with science., American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Feinstein, N.R. Sustainability and the Curriculum in Higher Education, System-wide Meeting on Sustainability, University of Wisconsin System, LaCrosse, WI.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author Science Education for the Competent Outsider: What we already know and do, American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Feinstein, N.R., Presenter & Author Science Education for the Competent Outsider: Lessons from Public Engagement with Science, Public Understanding and Public Engagement with Science, Joint DFG-NSF Conference, New York, NY.